The Hubbert Peak
"Previously on the West Wing" spoken by C.J. Josh test drives an over-sized SUV and crashes into a hybrid car resulting in bad publicity for The White House. Annabeth, the new Deputy Press Secretary, has been on the job for only a week and is preparing Toby to face the press corps with more confidence. Kate tells Donna that she can talk to her about the Gaza attacks if she needs to. Summary Opening Josh is in a car dealership looking at Priuses. He is distracted by the large SUV that is on display outside. He gets into a conversation with another shopper who has just gotten his Prius. He gets into the truck, gets a call from Donna, and promptly drives into the new Prius. Act I Josh arrives at the White House and meets C.J. coming out of a meeting with Asian diplomats. They talk about their respective weekends, she was busy with briefing books at home - he does not divulge anything that happened to him. She asks Josh if she knows where Toby is - Josh replies that he is briefing the press. Toby is in the briefing room, speaking to a nearly empty room, not really answering any questions posed by the few reporters in the room. C.J. walks into her office and finds the reporters there to complain about Toby. Kate and Josh are talking - she is asking him about the accident he had. She goes on to tell Josh about "The Hubbert Peak," which pertains to the supply and demand of oil. Will comes to see C.J. about getting the Vice President being more involved in issues. Toby comes in to see C.J. to tell her the Congress has failed to pass a fuel efficiency bill - Toby and Will spar over the administration's failure to pass such a bill. C.J. goes into the Oval Office to see the President. She mentions to him that he is needed at the reception in the afternoon - Charlie promises to get him there. Donna come across a DC blog which tells the story about Josh hitting the Prius - C.J. calls Josh to her office when the story breaks and tells Josh that he is going to make this better - no matter what. Josh goes into a meeting with members of Congress to try and deal with the CAFE standards defeat. He tells them they just didn't have the votes. Walking back to his office, he tells Donna to set up a meeting with alternative fuel spokespeople right away. Annabeth and Toby talk about how they can find a new press secretary right away. Kate comes to see Donna to tell her if she needs to talk about the accident, to not hesitate to come and talk to her. Act II C.J. is making plans to go and see Leo for lunch. Margaret makes a point of asking C.J. if she plays chess - Leo wanted to know. The blog story about Josh is getting larger - there is now a photo. Josh makes it worse by getting the blogger on the phone and the blogger begins to post the conversation online. Charlie is escorting the President to the reception, which turns out to be a party for Charlie on his graduation from Georgetown. Unfortunately this means that Charlie will no longer be able to work for the President, as he promised when he graduated - he would leave as the President's "Body Man." Annabeth and Toby are trying to spin Josh's problem. He tells her to draft a press release - but Annabeth says that won't work. They just need to ride it out and deflect with humor. She makes the point to him that briefing the press is like seduction and he needs to work a little harder at it. C.J. finds Charlie and tells him that she has gotten another reminder from Leo about playing chess with the President - Leo and the President used to play weekly. Charlie is not sure what it is about. The Vice President comes to see C.J. to congratulate her and to tell her that he looks forward to working with her. Will comes to see Josh to poke fun at him for the accident he had with the Prius. He has also come to ask Josh if he would make a call to a Hollywood heavyweight on behalf of the President. Josh says he will think about it. The President gives Charlie a stack of resumes so he can start looking for a job. Donna tells Josh that his meeting is set. Josh and Toby talk about the upcoming election - they are both afraid of Russell as the nominee and what would happen if he lost to the Republican. C.J. is briefing the President on the day's events, she mentions that Leo wanted to remind the President to play chess. The President tells C.J. that when Leo's ready, he can come back and play. Act III Charlie comes to see Josh with a copy of his resume but tells Josh that he really doesn't want to leave so to forget about the resume. Later Charlie does the same with Toby. Annabeth and Toby talk more about how Toby can be a better briefer. In the briefing room - Annabeth works with Toby on his mannerisms when he is briefing. Will comes to ask Kate to set up a series of foreign policy briefings for the Vice President - who needs a lot of help. Josh goes into his Alternative Energy "Summit" and grinds his way through the meeting. The participants spend most of the time squabbling with each other. C.J. comes to have lunch with Leo - he asks her how it's going. He insists to C.J. that she needs to get the President to play chess. As a side effect of the President's MS, he needs to continually engage his brain. Act IV Josh is continuing his meeting with the alternative energy people. They continue to fight amongst themselves. Toby goes into his afternoon briefing and tries to implement some of Annabeth's suggestions into his briefing. He has a much better experience. Charlie comes to see C.J. with his resume and she decides to hire him as a "Deputy Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff." Zoey comes to meet with him - he tells her about the job offer from C.J. and asks if he can take her to dinner as a thank-you - she asks if he is asking her out on a date. Toby finds Josh to see if there is anything to announce out of the meeting - Josh says no. Toby tells him that Josh has to tell C.J. that. He goes to see C.J. to tell her that his meeting was a bust - the President walks in and he tells them that they are going to veto the omnibus bill to get the issue out and try and push for higher CAFE standards. C.J. brings the President into the Oval Office to play chess - she has secured someone from HUD, who was on the Stanford Chess Team to play him. The President finally agrees, but only if C.J. plays against him, with the help of the HUD employee. Trivia / Goofs *Josh makes a reference to 'rats of an unusual size.' In the movie "The Princess Bride", Rodents of Unusual Size attack Wesley and Buttercup in the Fire Swamp. http://www.tv.com/the-west-wing/the-hubbert-peak/episode/355903/summary.html *Apopos is an organization that trains giant pouched rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis. These rats are endemic to the sub-Sahara region of Africa. No harm comes to these animals in their work. for more information go to: https://www.apopo.org/en/ Quotes :Toby Ziegler: Does anyone know where your esteemed confreres might be? Is it some press holiday of some kind? H.L. Mencken's birthday? Anniversary of the expense account? :President Bartlet: I am the leader of the free world. People pay attention when I speak. The job's not all waving from the chopper. :Toby Ziegler: On a scale of one to ten - ten being CJ and one being a chimp throwing feces - where do I rank? :Josh Lyman: There may be more disreputable ways to make a living than trafficking in gossip and clandestine photos, but none spring to mind. :President Bartlet: Enjoy your party. I think everyone's blocked off all of eight minutes. :Charlie Young: When it's the President of the United States asking if you did your homework, it gets done. :Leo McGarry: The President gets regular physicals, and because of the MS, rather more regular MRIs and neuro-physical tests. But MS is a disease of the central nervous system. It can affect cognition: Perception, reasoning, judgment. What the doctors actually term executive function. As President of the United States, this needs to be monitored on a weekly basis. You need to get the President to play chess. Cast Starring *Dulé Hill as Charlie Young *Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg *Joshua Malina as Will Bailey *Mary McCormack as Kate Harper *Janel Moloney as Donna Moss *Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler *John Spencer as Leo McGarry *Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman *and Martin Sheen as President Jed Bartlet Special Guest Stars *Kristin Chenoweth as Annabeth Schott *Gary Cole as Bob Russell Guest Starring *Elisabeth Moss as Zoey Bartlet *Wallace Langham as Terry Anders *NiCole Robinson as Margaret Hooper *Suleka Mathew as Ms. Chakrabarty *Rachel Harris as Corinne McKenna *Eric Lange as Paul Tyminski *Richard V. Licata as Congressman Lackey *Bonita Friedericy as Gail Addison *Matt Price as Auto Salesman *John Short as Riley Sheets Co-Starring *Melissa Fitzgerald as Carol Fitzpatrick *Kris Murphy as Katie Witt *Joyce Guy as Charlayne *Charles Noland as Steve *Timothy Davis-Reed as Mark O'Donnell *Bill Applebaum as Customer *John Brantley Cole as Roger Quast *Carol Avery as Congresswoman Gleeson *Gregory White as Congressman Auren References "The West Wing" The Hubbert Peak (2004) The West Wing: The Hubbert Peak Category:Episodes Category:Season 6